Designing a Personal Vitamin Program

By NMD.

Multivitamin preparations are the most common dietary supplement taken by at least one-third of all adults in the US. [1]

Yet many people continue to struggle with health issues related to optimal nutrition needs. Here's a quick overview of issues to consider when pinpointing the optimal intake amounts of "essential" vitamins, and micronutrients.

Who's At Risk?

Malnutrition is common in older people, especially for older women. [2]

The malnutrition risks children face around the world are noteworthy. It's been estimated that common micronutrient deficiencies including iron, iodine, vitamin A, and zinc, are responsible for more than 50% of the deaths of all children under the age of five. [3]

This leaves middle-aged folks who often rely on a "western-type" diet. Although we're not sure about specific micronutrient depletion in all food crops, we do know that when analyzing 43 foods, using USDA nutrient data from 1950 to 1999, scientists found reliable declines for 6 key nutrients:

Protein -6%

Calcium -16%

Phosphorus -9%

Iron -15%

Riboflavin -38%

Vitamin C -15%

Researchers from this study suggest replacing these known depletions with more nutrient-dense whole foods [4]. But which food nutrients do we need, and how much? First lets consider how malnutrition is associated with a host of adverse health effects.

An independent meta study published in the March 2013 Food Nutrition Research reports how diets based on dietary recommendations are associated with important health benefits. [5]

Not only are some food staples nutritionally depleted, they can also contain the risk of toxin exposure. Researchers studying "chlorpyrifos" neurotoxin residue in potatoes admit, "Industrialized nations, people, infants and the aged in particular, are even more exposed to neurotoxic drugs as a consequence of the increased quantity of pesticide residues in food." [6]

Wheat, another popular food stable, has estimates showing 22 milligrams to 2 grams of pesticides per kilo-gram of processed wheat are ingested by humans. [7]

Safety and Side Effects

Do you take a multivitamin? Are you sure it provides the right nutrients your body needs? More importantly, getting to much of certain nutrients can raise issues, such as excess B12 and foliate that's been shown to increase the risk of prostate cancer. [8]

Many people work at improving their health, yet many continue to struggle with deficiencies that prevent them from reaching their full potential. This can be due to a number of different factors:

Biochemical Individuality – We’re all different, so the nutritional requirements for you can be very different compared to everyone else. [9]

Absorption – You may have a great diet, but if you can’t absorb the vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and micronutrients you need, then chances are you will have one or more nutritional deficiencies. [10]

Chronic Illness – Health conditions such as arthritis, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and fatigues, to name a few, can drastically affect what you can absorb. [11]

Medications – Antacid can deprive your body of zinc, however, zinc helps us ward off cold and flu viruses. [12]

Taking a cholesterol drug can deplete your stores of Co-Q10, which is a nutrient used in every muscle in your body, especially your heart. [13]

Many different medications, both over the counter and prescription can keep our body from getting what it needs. [14]

Age – What your body needs at age 30 is different than what it needs at age 45, 55 and beyond. Absorption difficulties typically increase with age. [15]

Benefits: What Can Vitamins Do?

Daily multivitamin supplementation has been found to "modestly but significantly reduced the risk of total cancers." [16]

Finding Your Needs: Which Nutrients and How Much?

Finding out exactly what nutrients your body needs with a blood test will show where to focus your supplement regimen, eliminating time and money spent on unnecessary nutrition.

Naturopathic doctors are uniquely qualified to help guide patients through the interpretation of lab results, as well as, accounting for other related health makers.

Applications for prescriptive nutrition include:

Disease Therapy and Management

Family History and Risk Groups

Proactive Risk Assessment

Challenging Cases

Interpreting Test Results

Lab reports are easy-to-read numerical and graphic representations that include information about the function of each nutrient found to be deficient. These reports help us identify deficiency symptoms, nutrient sources, and daily intake standards.

Here's an beginning sample of the nutrients that you and your naturopathic doctor should be looking for

Vitamin A

Calcium

Vitamin B1, B2, B3, B6, B12

Magnesium

Vitamin C

Zinc

Vitamin D

Copper

Vitamin K

Coenzyme Q10

Biotin

Vitamin E

Folate

Fatty Acids

Advances in testing technology allow affordable results from state certified laboratories. Micronutrient tests are covered by most health insurance policies, because disease prevention is cost-effective for everyone.